Real folk music long ago went to Nashville and left no known survivors.

It might be argued that genuine spontaneity is not really possible or desirable so long as printed scores of great works exist. All modern musicians are, for better or worse, prisoners of Gutenberg.

On the subject of wild mushrooms, it is easy to tell who is an expert and who is not: The expert is the one who is still alive.

The human brain can soften as a result of incessant listening to music with an intent to commit prose.

The more disastrous the mishaps the simpler the reviewing task.

Next to the writer of real estate advertisements, the autobiographer is the most suspect of prose artists.

[Rubinstein was] a fountain from which music spouted, not a recitalist.

The irrepressible spirit that made his playing seem like good conversation is the Rubinstein legacy for pianists, if they can pick up their heads from the keyboard long enough to claim it.

Meet every man as you find him, for we're all made the same under habit, robe or rags. Some better made than others, and some better cared for, but on the same pattern, all.

Is this the baby?" I said.Ma turned on me again."What do you think it is?" she said. "A midget that can't talk?

The economy is the start and end of everything. You can't have successful education reform or any other reform if you don't have a strong economy.

Love is like a promise. Once you break it.. it doesn't come back unless you really fight for it.

It's a simple idea: We all do better when we work together and invest in our future.

Girls are like exotic birds. They are pretty to look at but hard to catch.

The Clinton foundation has done a lot of good in the world.

Every era of renaissance has come out of new freedoms for peoples. The coming renaissance will be greater than any in human history, for this time all the peoples of the earth will share in it.

I was beaten up wherever I went, and people shouted at me and cursed me and threw things at me.

The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet.